[28.05] MarsQuest: Bringing the Excitement of Mars Exploration to the Public

We are living in an extraordinary era of Mars exploration.
NASAís Odyssey spacecraft has recently discovered vast
amounts of hydrogen beneath the surface of Mars, suggesting
the presence of sub-surface ice. Two Mars Exploration Rovers
are scheduled to land in early 2004. To bring the excitement
and discoveries of Mars exploration to the public, the Space
Science Institute (SSI) of Boulder, CO, has developed a
comprehensive Mars Education Program that includes: 1) large
and small traveling exhibits, 2) workshops for museum and
classroom educators (in partnership with the Mars Education
Program at Arizona State University (ASU)), and 3) an
interactive Website called MarsQuest Online (in partnership
with TERC and JPL). All three components will be presented
and offered as a good model for actively involving
scientists and their discoveries to improve science
education in museums and the classroom.

The centerpiece of SSIís Mars Education Program is the
5,000-square-foot traveling exhibition, MarsQuest: Exploring
the Red Planet, which was developed with support from the
National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, and several
corporate donors. The MarsQuest exhibit is nearing the end
of a highly successful, fully-booked three-year tour. The
Institute plans to send an enhanced and updated MarsQuest on
a second three-year tour and is also developing Destination:
Mars, a mini-version of MarsQuest designed for smaller
venues. Workshops for museum educators, docents, and local
teachers are conducted at host sites. These workshops were
developed collaboratively by Dr. Cheri Morrow, SSIís
Education and Public Outreach Manager, and Sheri Klug,
Director of the Mars K-12 Education Program at ASU. They are
designed to inspire and empower participants to extend the
excitement and science content of the exhibitions into
classrooms and museum-based education programs in an ongoing
fashion. The MarsQuest Online project is developing a
Website that will use the MarsQuest exhibit as a context for
online interactives that delve deeper into Mars science.
This project, supported by NSF, will explore the potential
for in-depth, Web-based studies that extend museum exhibit
content onto the Web.